Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status. There is a total of 20 claims and claims 1and 3-21 are pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 03/17/2026 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 07/03/2024 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments, filed on 03/17/2026 with respect to claims 18-20 in the remarks, have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection necessitated by the new limitations added to claims 18-20. See the rejection below of claims 18-20 for relevant citations found in Kemal disclosing the newly added limitations.
Claim Rejections - 35 U.S.C. § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. § 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b) as being incomplete for omitting essential steps, such omission amounting to a gap between the steps. See M.P.E.P. § 2172.01. The omitted steps are: any steps for bitstream transmission in what is supposedly “a method of transmitting a bitstream”. The claim as a whole, directed substantially to a bitstream generated by method performed by a video processing apparatus, remains effectively an attempt to claim the per se bitstream itself. Such a claim would not fall under any of the four statutory categories of invention. In re Nuijten, 500 F.3d 1346, 1356–1357, 84 U.S.P.Q.2d 1495, 1501–03 (Fed. Cir. 2007). It is suggested that Applicant amend claim 20 to recite a positive method step of “transmitting the bitstream to a video processing method”.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1 ,4,5, 8, 9 and 17-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WANG et al. (US 2021/0176486 A1) in view of Zhang et al. (US 2021/0368198 A1) and further in view of Kemal et al. (NPL – Motion Compensated Prediction and Interpolation Filter Design; Pub. Dec. 2013; given by the applicant in the IDS).
Regarding claim 1, WANG discloses a method of video processing([see in Fig. 2A]-video processing), comprising: determining, during a conversion between a video unit of a video and a bitstream of the video([see in Fig. 2A]- in FIG. 2A, the encoder can encode video sequence 202 into video bitstream 228 according to process 200A), a chroma interpolation filter for the video unit([see in Fig. 7 and 9]- FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary Table 4 showing exemplary chroma interpolation filter in VVC).
However, WANG does not exclusively disclose wherein the number of taps of the chroma interpolation filter is larger than a predetermined number; obtaining a chroma prediction block by applying the chroma interpolation filter to a chroma component of the video unit; and performing the conversion based on the chroma prediction block.
In an analogous art, Zhang discloses wherein the number of taps of the chroma interpolation filter is larger than a predetermined number; wherein the predetermined number is 4 ([see in Fig. 26-28]- The derived motion will be used for both luma and chroma for MC inter prediction. After MV is decided, final MC is performed using 8-taps interpolation filter for luma and 4-taps interpolation filter for chrom); obtaining a chroma prediction block by applying the chroma interpolation filter to a chroma component of the video unit([para 0102]; ; [0140]- up-sampling interpolation filters, which have same filter length and normalization factor as HEVC motion compensation interpolation filters, are used as motion compensation interpolation filters for the additional fractional pel positions. The chroma component motion vector accuracy is 1/32 sample in the JEM, the additional interpolation filters of 1/32 pel fractional positions are derived by using the average of the filters of the two neighbouring 1/16 pel fractional positions; [0131]); and performing the conversion based on the chroma prediction block([see in fig. 16 para 0871-0872]- method for video processing, comprising: making a decision, during a conversion between a current video block and a bitstream representation of a video comprising the current video block, regarding a selective application of a prediction refinement with optical flow (PROF) operation, wherein the decision is based on a color information of a current video block). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the technique of Zhang to the modified system of WANG to provide video processing techniques may be applied to existing video coding standards (e.g., HEVC, H.265) and future standards to improve compression performance [Zhang; para 0048].
However, the combination of Wang and Zhang do not explicitly discloses Chroma interpolation filters with more than 4([pg. 954,right column last two para]- significant coding gain up to 6% in terms of chroma BD-rate from 4 taps filter compare to bi-linear interpolation was demonstrated. Additional coding gain due to extension of chroma interpolation filter to 6 taps was l % only in terms of chroma BO-rate. Further extension of chroma filter to 8-taps was even not considered in core experiment). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the technique of Kemal to the modified system of WANG and Zhang motion compensated prediction (MCP) is a technique used by video coders to reduce the amount of information transmitted to a decoder by exploiting the temporal redundancy present in the video signal [Kemal; Introduction].
Regarding claim 4, WANG discloses wherein a set of filter coefficients of the chroma interpolation filter is predetermined, or wherein the set of filter coefficients of the chroma interpolation filter is on-line indicated ([see in Fig. 8-9]- FIG. 8 and Table 4 of FIG. 9 illustrate the filter coefficients for luma and chroma interpolation filters, respectively).
Regarding claim 5, wherein determining the chroma interpolation filter comprises: determining the chroma interpolation filter using a discrete cosine transform interpolation filter (DCT-IF) ([see in Fig. 8-9]- the motion vector resolution can be extended to one-sixteenth accuracy. DCTIF can be used for the motion compensation interpolation. Table 3 of FIG. 8 and Table 4 of FIG. 9 illustrate the filter coefficients for luma and chroma interpolation filters, respectively), or determining the chroma interpolation filter using a Lanczos interpolation filter.
wherein a filtered result of the chroma interpolation filter is clipped, wherein the chroma interpolation filter is a long tap chroma interpolation filter.
Regarding claim 8, WANG discloses wherein at least one of: a first chroma interpolation filter for the video unit, or a second chroma interpolation filter for the video unit is applied to the video unit([see in Fig. 7 and para 0099-0100]- FIG. 7 for luma and chroma interpolation filters, respectively for a video unit).
Regarding claim 9, Zhang discloses wherein usage of at least one of: the first chroma interpolation or the second chroma interpolation is dependent on temporal layers([para 0177-0179]- two reference pictures in bi-prediction are the same and 2) temporal layer is greater than 1 and 3) the MVD precision is ¼-pel. For affine bi-prediction ME, this fast-skipping method is only applied to 4-parameter affine ME).
Regarding claim 17, Zhang discloses wherein the conversion includes encoding the video unit into the bitstream, or wherein the conversion includes decoding the video unit from the bitstream([abstract]- method for video processing includes determining, for a conversion between a current block of video and a bitstream representation of the video).
Regarding claim 18, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 1. Hence; all limitations for claim 18 have been met in method claim 1.
Regarding claim 19, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 1. Hence; all limitations for claim 19 have been met in method claim 1.
Regarding claim 20, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 1. Hence; all limitations for claim 20 have been met in method claim 1.
Regarding claim 21, Zhang discloses wherein usage of a chroma interpolation filter is indicated from an encoder to a decoder([see in fig. 30A and para 0140]- The derived motion will be used for both luma and chroma for MC inter prediction. After MV is decided, final MC is performed using 8-taps interpolation filter for luma and 4-taps interpolation filter for chroma; in Fig. 30A discloses an algorithm transaction between encoding and decoding device).
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WANG in view of Zhang as applied to claim 1 above and further in view of LUO et al. (US 2021/0044799 A1).
Regarding claim 3, the combination of WANG and Zhang do not exclusively discloses wherein obtaining the chroma prediction block comprises: obtaining the chroma prediction block by interpolating a chroma reference block using the chroma interpolation filter in motion compensation, or obtaining the chroma prediction block by interpolating a chroma reference samples using the chroma interpolation filter in intra-prediction.
In an analogous art, LUO discloses wherein obtaining the chroma prediction block comprises: obtaining the chroma prediction block by interpolating a chroma reference block using the chroma interpolation filter in motion compensation, or obtaining the chroma prediction block by interpolating a chroma reference samples using the chroma interpolation filter in intra-prediction([para 0106]- For the ARC-based PROF, both luma and chroma prediction can use phase-variant interpolation filters to generate the prediction signal with combined resampling and motion compensation interpolation). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the technique of LUO to the modified system of WANG and Zhang methods for processing video content using adaptive resolution change (ARC) to reduce the complexity of the algorithm and the hardware while maintain accuracy [LUO; para 0032].
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WANG in view of Zhang as applied to claim 1 above and further in view of Dong et al. (CN 102300086 A).
Regarding claim 7, the combination of WANG and Zhang do not exclusively discloses wherein a filtered result of the chroma interpolation filter is clipped, wherein the chroma interpolation filter is a long tap chroma interpolation filter.
In an analogous art, Dong discloses wherein a filtered result of the chroma interpolation filter is clipped, wherein the chroma interpolation filter is a long tap chroma interpolation filter([para 0003]- AVS luminance component interpolation accurately to 1/4 precision pixel interpolation, chroma bilinear interpolation by 1/8 pixel accuracy. wherein the luminance pixel interpolation in 1/2 pixel interpolation using four-tap filter (1, 5, 5, -1) is filtered 1/4 pixel interpolation part dot using four-tap filters (1, 7, 7, 1) for filtering the part point by linear interpolation filter. chroma 1/8 interpolation precision is calculated by the bilinear interpolation and its formula is predMatriX [x, y] = Clip 1 ((8-dx) * (8-dy) * A + dx * (8-dy) * B + (8-dx) XdyX C + dx XdyX D + 32) > > 6)). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the technique of Dong to the modified system of WANG and Zhang method for expanding the boundary of the reference frame and the motion compensation reference sample position to improves the execution efficiency of the decoder, it can be adapted to the coding end movement vector search range of arbitrary size [Dong; para 0031].
Claims 10-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WANG in view of Zhang as applied to claims 1 and 9 above and further in view of SATO et al. (US 2016/0005155 A1).
Regarding claim 10, the combination of WANG and Zhang do not exclusively discloses wherein if the first chroma interpolation filter comprises a first number of taps that is larger than a predetermined number and the second chroma interpolation filter comprises a second number of taps that is not larger than the predetermined number, the first chroma interpolation filter is used for a first layer with a first temporal identity that is not greater than a predetermined value, and the second chroma interpolation filter is used for a second layer with a second templar that is greater than the predetermined value, or
wherein if the first chroma interpolation filter comprises a first number of taps and the second chroma interpolation filter comprises a second number of taps, the first chroma interpolation filter is used for a first temporal layer and the second chroma interpolation filter is used for a second temporal layer, or
wherein if the first chroma interpolation filter comprises a filter tap and the second chroma interpolation filter comprises a second filter tap, the first chroma interpolation filter is used for a first temporal layer and the second chroma interpolation filter is used for a second temporal layer.
In an analogous art, SATO discloses wherein if the first chroma interpolation filter comprises a first number of taps that is larger than a predetermined number and the second chroma interpolation filter comprises a second number of taps that is not larger than the predetermined number, the first chroma interpolation filter is used for a first layer with a first temporal identity that is not greater than a predetermined value, and the second chroma interpolation filter is used for a second layer with a second templar that is greater than the predetermined value, or
wherein if the first chroma interpolation filter comprises a first number of taps and the second chroma interpolation filter comprises a second number of taps, the first chroma interpolation filter is used for a first temporal layer and the second chroma interpolation filter is used for a second temporal layer, or
wherein if the first chroma interpolation filter comprises a filter tap and the second chroma interpolation filter comprises a second filter tap, the first chroma interpolation filter is used for a first temporal layer and the second chroma interpolation filter is used for a second temporal layer([para 0184]- The upsampling filter 48 calculates the first interpolation pixel value by filtering the image of the base layer with the first filter configuration (for example, 8 taps for the luma component and 4 taps for the chroma component, and the corresponding filter coefficient) (step S29). Next, the upsampling filter 48 stores the first interpolation pixel value in the frame memory 25 (step S31). Further, the upsampling filter 48 calculates the second interpolation pixel value by filtering the image of the base layer with the second filter configuration (for example, 4 taps for the luma component and 2 taps for the chroma component, and the corresponding filter coefficient) (step S33). Next, the upsampling filter 48 stores the second interpolation pixel value in the frame memory 25 (step S35). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the technique of SATO to the modified system of WANG and Zhang an image processing method including an up-sampling filter configured to up-sample an image of a first layer referred to at a time of decoding of an image of a second layer with a higher space resolution than the first layer, and a control section configured to switch a filter configuration of the up-sampling filter for each block of an image to supply a structure capable of adaptively controlling the configuration of an up-sampling filter while preventing deterioration in image quality. [SATO; abstract].
Regarding claim 11, SATO discloses wherein usage of at least one of: the first chroma interpolation filter or the second chroma interpolation filter is dependent on coding information, wherein the coding information comprises more quantization parameter (QP) values([para 0120]- The rate control signal specifies a quantization parameter of each color component for each block. A quantization matrix (also referred to as a scaling list) can also be specified. The quantization matrix can be defined in advance for each of different TU sizes, color components (Y/Cr/Cb), and prediction modes (intra/inter). The quantization section 15 quantizes the transform coefficient data in a quantization step decided according to the rate control signal. Typically, when the quantization parameter is large, a quantization error of the transform coefficient data is also enlarged. In this case, a high-pass component included in the transform coefficient data is lost more easily than a low-pass component. The value of the quantization parameter can be known from a parameter to be encoded in each layer). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the technique of SATO to the modified system of WANG and Zhang an image processing method including an up-sampling filter configured to up-sample an image of a first layer referred to at a time of decoding of an image of a second layer with a higher space resolution than the first layer, and a control section configured to switch a filter configuration of the up-sampling filter for each block of an image to supply a structure capable of adaptively controlling the configuration of an up-sampling filter while preventing deterioration in image quality. [SATO; abstract].
Regarding claim 12, SATO discloses wherein if the first chroma interpolation filter comprises a first number of taps and the second chroma interpolation filter comprises a second number of taps, the first chroma interpolation filter is used for a first QP value and the second chroma interpolation filter is used for a second QP value, or
wherein if the first chroma interpolation filter comprises a filter tap and the second chroma interpolation filter comprises a second filter tap, the first chroma interpolation filter is used for a first QP value and the second chroma interpolation filter is used for a second QP value([para 0120 and 0184]- The upsampling filter 48 calculates the first interpolation pixel value by filtering the image of the base layer with the first filter configuration (for example, 8 taps for the luma component and 4 taps for the chroma component, and the corresponding filter coefficient) (step S29). Next, the upsampling filter 48 stores the first interpolation pixel value in the frame memory 25 (step S31). Further, the upsampling filter 48 calculates the second interpolation pixel value by filtering the image of the base layer with the second filter configuration (for example, 4 taps for the luma component and 2 taps for the chroma component, and the corresponding filter coefficient) (step S33). Next, the upsampling filter 48 stores the second interpolation pixel value in the frame memory 25 (step S35).
Regarding claim 13, Zhang discloses wherein the coding information comprises a width and a height of at least one of: a current block, a current tile, or a current picture([para 0147, 0162 and 193]- one luma block's width and height by W and H, respectively. If W*H<64, triangular prediction mode is disabled).
Regarding claim 14, Zhang discloses wherein if the first chroma interpolation filter comprises a first number of taps and the second chroma interpolation filter comprises a second number of taps, the first chroma interpolation filter is used for one of: a first width, a first height, a first max (W, H), or a first min (W, H), and the second chroma interpolation filter is used for one of: a second width, a second height, a second max (W,H), or a second min (W,H), and wherein W represents the width and H represents the height, or wherein if the first chroma interpolation filter comprises a first filter tap and the second chroma interpolation filter comprises a second filter tap, the first chroma interpolation filter is used for one of: a first width, a first height, a first max (W, H), or a first min (W, H), and the second chroma interpolation filter is used for one of: a second width, a second height, a second max (W,H), or a second min (W,H), and wherein W represents the width and H represents the height([para 0193-0195, 0259, 0350]- he motion information for the control points is derived firstly from the specified spatial neighbors and temporal neighbor shown in FIG. 22. CPk (k=1, 2, 3, 4) represents the k-th control point. A0, A1, A2, B0, B1, B2 and B3 are spatial positions for predicting CPk (k=1, 2, 3); T is temporal position for predicting CP4. [0195] The coordinates of CP1, CP2, CP3 and CP4 is (0, 0), (W, 0), (H, 0) and (W, H), respectively, where W and H are the width and height of current block).
Regarding claim 15, Zhang discloses wherein the coding information comprises a precision of motion vector (MV) or motion vector difference (MVD)([para 0211-0213]- Block vector prediction and coding schemes for the IBC mode reuse the schemes used for motion vector prediction and coding in the HEVC inter mode (AMVP and MVD coding)).
Regarding claim 16, Zhang discloses wherein if the first chroma interpolation filter comprises a first number of taps and the second chroma interpolation filter comprises a second number of taps, the first chroma interpolation filter is used for a first MV or MVD and the second chroma interpolation filter is used for a second MV or MVD, or
wherein if the first chroma interpolation filter comprises a first filter tap and the second chroma interpolation filter comprises a second filter tap, the first chroma interpolation filter is used for a first precision of MV or MVD and the second chroma interpolation filter is used for a second precision of MV or MVD([para 0286-0287]- ((xSb/SubWidthC)+(mvLX[0]>>5), (ySb/SubHeightC)+(mvLX[1]>>5)). [0286] For each chroma sample location (xC=0 . . . sbWidth−1, yC=0 . . . sbHeight−1) inside the prediction chroma sample arrays predSamplesLX, the corresponding prediction chroma sample value predSamplesLX[xC][yC] is derived as follows: [0287] Let (refxSb.sub.C, refySb.sub.C) and (refx.sub.C, refy.sub.C) be chroma locations pointed to by a motion vector (mvLX[0], mvLX[1]) given in 1/32-sample units).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 6 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 6, The method of claim 5, wherein a set of filter coefficients of the chroma interpolation filter is determined using equations as below:
PNG
media_image1.png
294
428
media_image1.png
Greyscale
wherein {pz} represents a set of sample values at integer position l used to interpolation Pa at fractional position a, Filter1 (a) represents the set of filter coefficients, Mmin and Mmax represents a range of neighboring integer-position samples involved in an interpolation process, Size represents the number of reference samples used in the chroma interpolation filter, and N represents a smoothing window size, or wherein a set of filter coefficients of the chroma interpolation filter is determined using equations as below:
PNG
media_image2.png
183
388
media_image2.png
Greyscale
wherein {pz} represents a set of sample values at integer position l used to interpolation Pa at fractional position a , Fil tern (x) represents the set of filter coefficients, and Size represents the number of reference samples used in the chroma interpolation filter.
Citation of Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art are made of record and not relied upon but considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure:
FILIPPOV et al., US 2021/0127110 A1, discloses a method and apparatus for interpolation filtering used for intra- and inter-prediction.
XIU et al., US 2023/0025503 A1, discloses methods and apparatus on reference picture resampling technology for video coding.
3. Song et al., US 2016/0309181 A1, discloses a method and an apparatus for encoding/decoding video using a high-precision filter.
4. DENG et al., US 2021/0385469 A1, discloses video coding and decoding techniques.
5. Li et. al., US 2021/0112258 A1, discloses method of video decoding performed in a video decoder.
6. Zhang et al., US 2021/0314595, discloses method for video bitstream processing includes generating, using a first video block derived from a third video block of a first component and having a first size, a prediction block for a second video block of a video related to a second component, where the first component is different from the second component, and where the second video block has a second size that is different from the first size.
7. Bang et al., US 2022/0272321 A1, discloses a method, apparatus and storage medium for image encoding/decoding using a reference picture.
Conclusion
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/MD N HAQUE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2487
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